The invention relates to the field of medical devices and equipment useful during medical procedures. In particular, the invention pertains to a bowl for storing and handling medical items, such as catheters and guidewires, that can be placed in a compact coiled configuration.
Certain medical devices and equipment by virtue of their structure and materials necessitate a compact coiling thereof in order to facilitate their storage, packaging or handling. Such devices and equipment include items used during various medical procedures include, but are not limited to, guidewires, flexible stents, catheters, tubing, wires, fiberoptic equipment, and the like. These devices can prove awkward to handle and manipulate by virtue of their resistance to compact coiling and tendency to expand outward in a radial direction. Accordingly, controlling the storage and handling during medical procedures of such items is important, since these items can become physical obstacles and have compromised sterility when handled inappropriately.
A variety of guidewire and catheter bowls are currently available in the medical field. One such bowl is described in Magers U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,216, which describes a surgical bowl having inwardly projecting sidewall lugs which maintain a coiled wire at the bottom of the bowl. Another bowl is described in Holloway U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,448, which describes a catheter bowl with integrally molded retaining members on the sidewall of the bowl. Yet another bowl is described in Cude et al. U.S. Pat. No. Des. 433,130, drawn to an ornamental design of a catheter or guidewire bowl containing extended portions protruding from the sidewall and an intermittently raised base. These bowls described in these references, however, are primarily designed to only control the upward migration of a coiled item placed within, and fall short of affording the user optimal ease of handling and grippability of the item while inside the bowl.
None of these references offer the user the advantages associated with separating the coiled item from the side and bottom of a bowl when placed therein. Thus, there is a need for a medical bowl which can accommodate a coiled device in a manner which facilitates the storage and handling of the coiled device and is relatively easy to manufacture.
The invention provides a medical bowl for coiled devices having an improved design. More particularly, it has been discovered that a medical bowl can possess a structure and position of retention tabs such that the bowl: 1) improves handling and grippability of a coiled device placed within the bowl by providing i) a gap between the sidewall and retention tabs which utilizes the tendency for outward radial expansion of the coiled device to additionally provide ii) a gap between the coiled device and the bottom of the bowl; 2) enhances the separation of the coiled device from resident fluids inside the bowl; 3) can be stored in stackable, space-saving manner when empty or when containing a coiled device within; and 4) can be manufactured using an integrally molded single piece construction. The medical bowl according to the invention is useful for the storing and handling a variety of devices having a coiled configuration, including but not limited to, guidewires, flexible stents, catheters, tubing, wires, fiberoptic equipment, and the like.
The invention provides a medical bowl adapted to accommodate and retain a coiled medical device comprising:
a generally smooth cylindrical sidewall portion;
a generally planar circular bottom portion;
a plurality of retention tabs extending upward from said bottom portion and positioned thereon to provide a space between said sidewall portion and said retention tabs.
In a preferred embodiment, each of the retention tabs comprises:
an outer side, an inner side, a top portion and a base;
wherein
said outer side is upright and generally parallel to said sidewall portion;
said inner side comprises an incline portion located at the base; and
said top portion comprises a lip extending inward toward the central region of the bowl.
Additional advantages and aspects of the invention will be apparent from or pointed out in the course of the detailed description of the preferred embodiment which follows.